My Oscar'13 Picks; nominations are due tomorrow

BEST FILM

Argo 

Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook 

Django Unchained 

6. Les Miserábles 

7. Life of Pi 

8. The Master 

9. Moonrise Kingdom 

10. Skyfall 

FYC (For Your Consideraion - probably won't be nominated but would deserve it nonetheless): Flight 

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) 

Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) 

Ben Affleck (Argo) 

Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) 

Ang Lee (Life of Pi) 

Alternative 1: Tom Hooper (Les Miserábles) 

Alternative 2: Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master) 

FYC: Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible) 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Zero Dark Thirty 

Django Unchained 

The Master 

Moonrise Kingdom 

Flight 

Alternative 1: Amour 

Alternative 2: Looper 

FYC: Detachment 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Argo 

Life of Pi 

Lincoln 

Silver Linings Playbook 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

Alternative 1: Beasts of the Southern Wild 

Alternative 2: Les Miserábles 

FYC: Skyfall 

BEST ACTOR

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) 

Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) 

John Hawks (The Sessions) 

Hugh Jackman (Les Miserábles) 

Denzel Washington (Flight) 

Alternative 1: Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) 

Alternative 2: Joseph Gordon-Lewitt (Looper) 

FYC: Mathew McCounaghey (Killer Joe) 

BEST ACTRESS

Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) 

Naomi Watts (The Impossible) 

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) 

Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) 

Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) 

Alternative 1: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) 

Alternative 2: Keira Knightley (Anna Karenina) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway (Les Miserábles) 

Amy Adams (The Master) 

Helen Hunt (The Sessions) 

Sally Field (Lincoln) 

Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy) 

Alternative 1: Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) 

Alternative 2: Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) 

FYC: Kelly Reilly (Flight) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) 

Leonardo Di Caprio (Django Unchained) 

Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) 

Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
Alan Arkin (Argo) 

Alternative 1: Javier Bardem (Skyfall) 

Alternative 2: Mathew McCounaghey (Magic Mike) 

FYC: Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) 

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Amour (Áustria)

The Intouchables (França) 

The Deep (Islândia) 

Kon-Tiki (Noruega) 

A Royal Affair (Dinamarca) 

Alternative 1: No (Chile) 

Alternative 2:Beyond the Hills (Roménia) 

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Brave 

Wreck-it-Ralph 

The Rise of the Guardians 

Frankenweenie 

Hotel Transylvania 

Alternative 1:The Painting 

Alternative 2:Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted 

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Imposter 

Bully 

The Gatekeepers 

The Invisible War 

This is Not a Film 

Alternative 1: Searching for Sugar Man 

Alternative 2: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Master (Mihai Malaimare Jr. ) 

Django Unchained (Robert Richardson) 

Zero Dark Thirty (Greig Fraser) 

Lincoln (Janusz Kaminski) Skyfall (Roger Deakins) 

Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda) 

Alternative 1: Les Miserábles (Danny Cohen) 

Alternative 2: Argo (Rodrigo Pietro) 

BEST ART DIRECTION

Django Unchained 

Lincoln 

Anna Karenina 

Life of Pi 

Les Miserábles 

Alternative 1: The Master 

Alternative 2: Moonrise Kingdom

FYC: Cloud Atlas 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Django Unchained 

Lincoln 

Les Miserábles 

Anna Karenina 

Cloud Atlas 

Alternative 1: Moonrise Kingdom 

Alternative 2: Mirror Mirror 

FYC: The Master 

BEST HAIR AND MAKE-UP

Lincoln 

Les Miserábles 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 

Alternative 1: Hitchcock 

Alternative 2: Looper 

FYC: Cloud Atlas 

BEST EDITING

Zero Dark Thirty 

Flight 

Lincoln 

Les Miserábles 

Argo 

Alternative 1: Skyfall 

Alternative 2: The Master 

FYC: The Impossible 

BEST SOUND EDITING

The Avengers 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 

Skyfall 

Zero Dark Thirty 

The Dark Knight Rises 

Alternative 1: Les Miserábles 

Alternative 2: Life of Pi 

FYC: Killing Them Softly 

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Avengers 

Les Miserábles 

Skyfall 

Zero Dark Thirty 

The Dark Knight Rises 

Alternative 1: Life of Pi 

Alternative 2: Lincoln 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Avengers 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 

Life of Pi 

The Dark Knight Rises 

Battleship: LA 

Alternative 1: Cloud Atlas 

Alternative 2: Prometheus 

FYC: The Amazing Spiderman 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Master 

Beasts of the Southern Wild 

Lincoln 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 

Alternative 1: Life of Pi 

Alternative 2: Anna Karenina 

FYC: The Dark Knight Rises 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Suddenly" (Les Miserábles) 

"Skyfall" (Skyfall) 

"Song of the Lonely Mountain" (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) 

"Learn Me Right" (Brave) 

"Who Did That to You?" (Django Unchained) 

Alternative 1: "Touch the Sky" (Brave) 

Alternative 2: "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" (Ted) 

Flight (2012): Zemeckis and Washington high above sea level

I ought to be looking for the black box of this screening. Nothing went wrong and I'm still one piece but I'd like to find the frame of my face realizing Gatins and Zemeckis had stored in a much different approach to the premise than I had in mind: an action-packaged ride of a wrong man running from a massive Government conspiracy. Instead, I saw a dedicated character-study of one man clinging to a wrecked personal life.

A one-minute opening scene with very little dialog and a lot of good visual first strokes of the main character. Katrina (Nadine Velazquez), a beautiful naked stewardess finds her panties while Whip Whitaker (thumbs up to Denzel Washington) collects the last two drops of vodka out of a bouquet of empty bottles, lights a cigarette for breakfast, and answers the cellphone to his divorced wife asking for money. The rough night has come to an end because he now has a plane to fly. Or hasn't it? He snuffs a line of coke to pump him up and get him ready for the clouds. Joe Cocker's Feelin Alright rocks in - this was going to be good storytelling.

The plane departs, turbulence hits and things go murky: a sleepy, alcoholized, drugged pilot must regain control of the engine, diving nose-down, and stop it from crashing. It's a frenetic rhythm caught through editing; an intensity of stakes given by Washington's voice, maneuvering and rapid-thinking; a subtlety of emotions plastered on the pilot's face when a stewardess dies after saving a child and when he asks Margaret (Tamara Tunie) to declare her love for her son to the black box. The coin of unexpectedness flips when Whitaker flips the plane upside down, arresting the descent and starting to glide, before bringing it back to normal position and landing in a field. He looses consciousness and you can finally breathe. Extraordinary sequence.

Ensued is the most simple of stories. Whip wakes up in a hospital bed, six people have died (including Katrina), more than half were injured. Who is to blame? No Cold-War syndrome, no post-9/11 trauma, no cabal of any kind. But this newly congratulated hero, the hand of the latest miracle of God, had a toxicological exam made. Who is to blame? Is he the wrong man, the right man, the righteous man? Is he a savior or a killer? The airplane was probably defective, as grants Charlie (Bruce Greenwood), his friend and representative of the pilots union; but he was drunk and high too. Yet, "Nobody could have landed that plane like I did.", Whip retorts. Hugh Lang (Don Cheaddle), a lawyer specialized in going against NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigations, is the only one capable of getting Whitaker through the agency's hearing  - he can annul the toxicological analysis and focus the defense on mechanical deficiency.

Whip takes refuge on his father's farm to stay away from the media, sweeps off any trace of booze and weed and tries to reconnect. He can't reach his ex-wife nor his son, but he has met Nicole (great surprise by Kelly Relly) at the hospital. She deserves her own POV not only for a wise foreshadowing (why is cocaine like a panic-button sometimes) but also to prove we are in for well-rounded characters beyond a sole, typical, action movie plot function. She represents the hopeful fringe to cure, compassion and affection, while his friend Harling Mays (John Goodman in his typical 7-minute-overall show-stealing) is a bohemian drug-dealer capable of cheering up Rose DeWitt Bukater when she's back on the lifeboat.

The drama progresses on Zemeckis' calm, observant, introspective camera. Quiet places, soft light. What could have usually been a third-act resurrection (e.g., flushing down marijuana; trying an AA meeting) are tests, failed tests, on the middle of the story. Turbulence that instead sends Whitaker on his own personal emotive steep downfall. The legal drama angle keeps a large pace but every new scene comes underlined by the protagonist's moral struggle - he is awfully tired of lies. Two surprising turns at the end - what he needs to go to the hearing of the NTSB (headed by Melissa Leo) and what happens there (delicious metaphors and character arc). Then you ask, what kind of man his he?

Merry Christmas

Golden Globes Nominees, from high-buzzed "Lincoln" to secret "Django Unchained"

While Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty have been gathering the most appraisal from critics, the absence of Django Unchained and Les Miserables from any major film festivals and their extended secrecy until the premieres both on December 25th swept them off sight of early Oscar projections - but what about this? I believe The Master will play differently to the Academy and I'm particularly happy with Moonrise Kingdom's surprise and Argo's confirmation. Where the hell is Mad Men and go Girls!

BEST PICTURE, DRAMA
Argo
Lincoln
Life of Pi
Django Unchained
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables,
Moonrise Kingdom,
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,
Silver Linings Playbook

BEST SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal ("Zero Dark Thirty")
Tony Kushner ("Lincoln")
David O. Russel ("Silver Linings Playbook")
Quentin Tarantino ("Django Unchained")
Chris Terrio ("Argo")

BEST DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck ("Argo")
Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty")
Ang Lee ("Life of Pi")
Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln")
Quentin Tarantino ("Django Unchained")

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Daniel Day-Lewis ("Lincoln)
Richard Gere ("Arbitrage")
John Hawkes ("The Sessions")
Joaquin Phoenix ("The Master")
Denzel Washington ("Flight")

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Hugh Jackman ("Les Miserables")
Jack Black ("Bernie")
Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playboy")
Bil Murray ("Hyde Park on Hudson")
Ewan McGregor ("Salmon Fishing in the Yemen")

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty")
Marion Cotillard ("Rust and Bone")
Helen Mirren ("Hitchcock")
Naomi Watts ("The Impossible")
Rachel Weisz ("The Deep Blue Sea")

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Emily Blunt ("Salmon Fishing in the Yemen")
Judi Dench ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel")
Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings PLaybook")
Maggie Smith ("Quartet")
Meryl Streep ("Hope Springs")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin ("Argo")
Leonardo DiCaprio ("Django Unchained")
Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Master")
Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln")
Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams ("The Master")
Sally Field ("Lincoln")
Anne Hathaway ("Les Miserables)
Helen Hunt ("The Sessions")
Nicole Kidman ("The Paperboy")

BEST FOREIGN FILME
Amour
A Royal Affair
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
Rust and Bone

ANIMATED FILM
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It-Ralph

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Mychael Danna, "Life of Pi"
Alexandre Desplat, "Argo"
Dario Marianelli, "Anna Karenina"
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil, "Cloud Atlas"
John Williams, "Lincoln."

BEST SERIES, DRAMA
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

BEST SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Episodes"
"Girls"
"Modern Family"
"Smash"

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Steve Buscemi ("Boardwalk Empire")
Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad")
Jeff Daniels ("The Newsroom")
Jon Hamm ("Mad Men")
Damian Lewis ("Homeland")

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Connie Britton ("Nashville")
Glenn Close ("Damages")
Claire Danes ("Homeland")
Michelle Dockery ("Downtown Abbey")
Julianna Margulies ("The Good Wife")

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock")
Don Cheadle ("House of Lies")
Louis C. K. ("Louie")
Matt LeBlanc ("Episodes")
Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory")

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Zooey Deschanel (New Girl)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)
Lena Dunham (Girls)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)

BEST MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV

Game Change

The Girl

Hatfields & McCoys

The Hour

Political Animal

BEST ACTTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys)
Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock)
Woody Harrelson (Game Change)
Toby Jones (The Girl)
Clive Owen (Hemingway & Gellhorn)

BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Nicole Kidman (Hemingway & Gellhorn)
Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Asylum)
Sienna Miller (The Girl)
Julianne Moore (Game Change)
Sigourney Weaver (Political Animals)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Max Greenfield (New Girl)
Ed Harris (Game Change)
Danny Huston (Magic City)
Mandy Patinkin (Homeland)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Hayden Panettiere (Nashville)
Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
Sarah Paulson (Game Change)
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)